Time Is Nigh for Global Action, Manifesto Warns

Time Is Nigh for Global Action, Manifesto Warns By DAVID JOLLY An era has dawned in which humanity’s impact on the earth could prove to be as great as ice ages or meteoric collisions, scientists, government officials and business leaders warned this week at a big environmental conference in London. The world’s approach to tackling environmental problems therefore must change rapidly if disaster is to be avoided, they said. “We really are urging the world to grasp this moment to make history,” said Lidia Brito , the director of science policy and capacity building at Unesco and a co-chairman of the conference, titled Pressure on the Planet . In a formal declaration issued on Thursday at the end of the conference, she and Mark Stafford Smith, the other co-chairman, wrote that “without urgent action, we could face threats to water, food, biodiversity and other critical resour...